Tennessee might 'reach out' to USC's Martin

It hasn't exactly been a cozy relationship between the USC and Tennessee football programs in recent years, and new Volunteers coach Butch Jones probably didn't help matters Friday.

During his introductory press conference, Jones was asked about the possibility of hiring Tee Martin, current USC receivers coach and quarterback of Tennessee's 1998 national championship team, as one of his new assistant coaches.

``Obviously, he's a great coach and we all understand what he's meant to this program,'' Jones said, ``so he would be an individual that we would reach out to, but we're going to reach out to a lot of people.''

While there are no strict tampering rules in NCAA football, it's more than a bit eyebrow-raising to hear Jones speak publicly about the possibility of poaching a coach from another school, particularly during a hot recruiting period. USC coach Lane Kiffin is highly unpopular in Tennessee because he left his job as Volunteers coach after one season to come to USC.

Martin, 34, is in his first season at USC after two seasons as receivers coach at Kentucky. It's not known how seriously he would consider an overture from Jones to return to his alma mater.

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